The subject matter disclosed herein relates to load centers and, more particularly, to arc fault circuit breakers for use with load centers.
Arc-fault interruption (AFI) and ground-fault interruption (GFI) circuit breakers traditionally require an extra conductor, often referred to as a “pigtail,” to connect the circuit breaker to a neutral busbar of a load center with which the circuit breaker is used. Increased use of arc-fault circuit breakers in a residential load center results in additional pigtails in the wiring gutter of the load center, thereby presenting a smaller space within which to perform wiring operations.
For each circuit breaker added to a load center, the labor required to connect neutral lines is increased. Additionally, the small space between the back of the circuit breaker and the neutral bar can create an untidy installation based on bulky pigtails being overcrowded within the small space. Therefore, current methods of making neutral connections in circuit breakers are cumbersome and time consuming due to installation procedures that are required, thereby making these connections bulky and difficult to organize. Such procedures may include screwing and unscrewing the pigtail wires to the neutral bar, which are difficult procedures to perform in small spaces.